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Monday, July 22, 2013

A local,
collective, private and public, entrepreneurial and sustainable economic
development effort to create new employment and wealth opportunities:

Local a project made specifically for
your community that draws on the history, traditions and talents that are
unique to your town and region; shared, and paid for in part, with the
participation and resources of visiting individuals, families, businesses, non
profits and many others.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Our problems are
man made--therefore, they can
be solved by man

President John F Kennedy

As previouslystated,
The Washington Metro area and the
Middle Atlantic Region of the United States are among the most affluent in the
world, with a high percentage of highly educated, informed and environment
conscious citizenry. This is also a trend setting region because it is:

the seat of government where the
rules and regulations are crafted, and

a highly diverse community with people from all
over the world that live, work, study and visit here; hence the perfect conduit
to transfer ideas and more to other communities.

Ethical not Technical As the
documentary Surviving Progress
points out, solutions to climate change and mankind’s condition on planet earth
can be found less in technological advancement and more in ethical and
political considerations; people tend to
do and want what others do and want.

There are of course technical
and practical considerations but they can only be effective if:

1.preceded by an educational
effort to inform the public on the benefit of a specific course of action, as
well as the consequences of inaction, which forces

2.political office holders to make
decisions, provide leadership, and

3.direct rule making bodies to establish
new and appropriate regulations and sanctions

The Solution lies in consuming less without impacting quality and
standard of life. This is achieved by first tackling ethical and political considerations,
including but are not limited to:

§recalculating government and
family budgets; economics is not a science, therefore it is not subject to
unchanging facts of life like the laws of gravity

§budgets must take into account
what we take from nature through, for example,

§revenue neutral carbon tax
that with consumption levies and income tax rebates

At this point, technological
as well as politically and economically feasible solutions can be adopted.

If your community is dependent
on service industries, such as tourism, it can adapt a series of measures that
address water resources and quality as well as energy savings. Management innovations such Energy
Services Performance Contracts – ESPCs -and Technical solutions, such
as Combined Heat and Power – CHP
– are proven, state of the art systems that

oreduce
greenhouse emissions by 40 percent

oconsume
essentially zero water resources in generating electricity

oare a low-cost
approach to adding new electricity generation capacity

oreduce the risk
of electric grid disruptions, and

oincrease predictability
with electricity prices

Most of all, going back to the
politics of the climate change issue, they utilize:

1.fossil and/or renewable energy,
lessening the stalemate between these two options

2.highly-skilled local
labor and technology, hence creating new wealth in a community

3.are adaptable and scalable to
local conditions, and

4.meets the stated goal of
consuming less without impacting quality and standard of life.

In both developed and developing communities there is a disconnect on most
issues between the elites – the wealthy, opinion and decision makers - and the rest, especially regarding
economic development, trade and the environment.

The connection between haves and have nots will occur when wealth creation,
employment and entrepreneurship are linked to the climate change issue; till
then, climate related issues will remain an issue of interest to a very select
minority of earth’s population.

The connection is more likely to occur when technologically, economically
and politically evolved regions like the Middle Atlantic States set the example
and show the way to combat climate change; other communities will then follow
in their footsteps to the benefit of all.